Kids' Skills: Playful and practical solution-finding with children

by Ben Furman

Working with children to convert problems into skills Well-known Finnish psychotherapist and TV presenter, Ben Furman, shares the Kids' Skills model for working with children that is influencing parents, teachers, counsellors and policy makers around the world. This is a playful and practical approach to solving difficulties faced by children where practically all problems can be seen as skills that need to be developed. This method invites children to become active participants in skill-building and solution-finding. A book buzzing with ideas, stories and suggestions. - Converting problems into skills.
- Agreeing on the skill to learn
- Naming the skill and choosing a power creature
- Gathering supporters and building confidence
- Planning the celebration and going public
- Practising the skill and creating reminders

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Ben Zwi Hirsch Furman is a Finnish psychiatrist, registered trainer-psychotherapist, teacher of solution-focused therapy, co-director of Helsinki Brief Therapy Institute Ltd. and a writer. Also Approved Supervisor of the American Association of Marital and Family Therapy 1995-2000.

Ben founded The Helsinki Brief Therapy Institute, Ltd, together with his colleague Tapani Ahola in 1986. The institute provides professional training in solution-focused psychotherapy, coaching, supervision, and leadership.

Ben has written over 20 books covering such varied topics as psychotherapy, leadership, management, coaching, work environment, resiliency, child therapy, family therapy and self help. His books have been translated to many foreign languages including English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Polish, Icelandic, Hebrew, Estonian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Bulgarian.

Over the years Ben has developed a number of solution-focused tools or methods that help poeple solve problems, overcome difficulties and make improvements in their life. The most well known are Reteaming, Twin-Star, Cooperation and Kids' Skills.

Ben teaches in and lectures in his own country as well as abroad. In Finland he is well known for his informative psychological program on national TV which he hosted for several years during 1990's and 2000's. More recently Ben was working for two years with the radio hosting a biweekly two hour call in program on YLE, National Finnish Radio. During the fall of 2012 Ben was involved in a reality show called "Pissed off" which explored the coaching of five well known Finnish persons to help them improve the quality of their life. In this series Ben acted as the coach of one of the five persons.

Ben lectures internationally and has over the years had engagements in several European countries as well as overseas.

(Sources:
http://www.benfurman.com/en/more-info...
http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Furman)

Reviews

[Tereza Vlckova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended method for all teachers, psychologists, and parents. Applicable for children from 4 years up to teenagers, for normally developing children or kids with ADHD and other disorders. Literally a method that everyone can easily learn to deliver and children love it!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boek gelezen voor mijn studie. Leest lekker vlot en de methode wordt duidelijk uitgelegd met bijpassende voorbeeldsituaties. Verder lijkt het stappenplan goed toepasbaar in de praktijk. Al met al een fijn en nuttig boek!

[Nathalie Van Beek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Een wat ouder boek, en daardoor zijn sommige dingen net wat minder van toepassing, maar de basis van deze methode vond ik erg interessant. Past goed bij oplossingsgericht werken. Uit het stappenplan kunnen ook losse elementen gebruikt worden.

[Nele Moenaert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben Furman, p.37:
‘Er is niets mis met onze kinderen - ze moeten alleen soms één of twee vaardigheden verbeteren.’ 🧑🏻‍🏫

[Merje Saarniit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hea raamat. Üks viisidest, kuidas lapsi allutada mitte neid murdmata.

[Uta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ich schaffs! ist ein Programm, das aus Finnland kommt. Es handelt sich um einen lösungsorientierten Ansatz zum Umgang mit Verhaltensproblemen. Wobei hier schon das erste positive Phänomen auftritt. Bei Ich schaffs! geht es nämlich eigentlich gar nicht um Probleme sondern um die Fähigkeiten, die Kinder noch erlernen müssen, damit sich ihr Verhalten ändern kann.

https://vereinbarkeitsblog.de/buecher...

[Murray Irwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kids' Skills - Playful and practical solution-finding with children by Ben Furman is a book I would recommend to any parent or teacher of children. It offers a solution focused approach to helping children develop skills that overcome everyday problems.

It is a very easy read with 15 steps to follow. Each step is discussed in its own chapter of 4-8 pages with good examples provided. Step 1 is converting the problem into a skill to be learn. It then moves on to agree on the skill with the child, exploring the benefits of the skill, naming it and gathering supporters. To help the child learn and make it engaging as well as playful, it suggests choosing a power creature and planning a celebration for when they have learnt the skill.

Other steps include how to building confidence, defining the skill, making the skill publicly known, practicing the skill, creating reminders and celebrating success. After success comes passing on the skill to others and moving on to the next skill to learn. The final chapter of the book includes a number of possible solution idea’s for a range of common issues.

All of the steps helps change your perspective on behaviour issues and makes the learning for the child playful and positive. I would recommend it to parents, grand parents, teachers and significant others who are supporting children and helping them build positive life skills.

[Ree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this book up for research on a paper and though it didn't really relate to my topic in the end, I found it profoundly interesting. The approach to problems as skills not yet learned is so simple and yet I can't believe it's not more common. Even if you don't have the time to implement the entire program (which you should of course if possible) I still think that even using this shift in addressing an issue alone will affect the entire situation, how one on "the helping end" and the one on "the help receiving end" perceive the problem and themselves and how they consequently deal with it. And although the program is designed for kids, it is also applicable (with modifications) for adults in my opinion. Definitely worth a read!

[Martins Slisans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book with easy approach to use in real life.